Abby nodded. “How long to get there?”
“I figure about three days. We’ll stop each day, like we did on the way here.”
Abby thought about it. “You’re sure?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
“How do you know?”
“Honestly, it’s just my best guess. I figure it was three days to get here from there, and I know we were heading southeast to wind up here, so I just did the math and started looking.”
Abby looked over the chart. “But there are so many,” she said, indicating all the green dots.
“What have we got to lose?”
Abby thought about it. She desperately wanted to find their way back to Robert, but didn’t want to keep wasting time by island hopping. She silently cursed herself for disposing of JJ’s contact information, but no amount of beating herself up would change what she had done.
Eric could see that she was hesitant. “How about this?” he said. “We’re still stopping a few times between here and there. If nothing else, we’re getting closer. Plus we know JJ must be heading in the same direction. We’ll keep asking around for him, but we can ask around about Trial Island, too. People must have heard of it and know where it is, right?”
“Eric, if we start asking about the island, people are going to recognize us. We’re not on our little island off the grid anymore.”
“You’re right,” he said, then had a second thought as he tucked her hair behind her ear. “Actually, babe, I don’t know if they’d recognize you.” He stood back to take her in and nodded his head. “You’re blonde now, and you put on a couple of pounds. And with those sunglasses, someone would have to be a pretty big fan to pick up on it.”
“Put on a couple of pounds?”
Eric sighed. Of course that was all she heard. “I mean you look normal now. You were super skinny on the show after eating so little for all that time. Too skinny, like one of those waif supermodels that are built like little boys.” He pulled her close. “Now you look like a real woman.” He kissed her. “An irresistibly beautiful woman.”
“OK,” she said, “you’re off the hook for now, but watch it.” She smiled and kissed him again. “I got you a present.” She reached into the bag and pulled out the underwear, shorts, and T-shirt. As Eric was in the cabin changing, Abby added, “I got you something else, too. You’ll see it later.”
Eric popped out of the cabin in his new clothes. It was midday, and he was eager to get moving, “How about I see it over a romantic dinner at sea?”
Abby shook her head. “I meant to tell you – I heard there’s a big storm coming. We should probably sit tight until it passes.”
Eric looked around at the sky. Aside from a few puffs of white, it was clear blue as far as he could see. “Where did you hear this?”
“A guy in the market told me.”
“You see anything going on out there?”
Abby looked around and conceded, “No, but he was pretty insistent.”
Eric looked up again, “We must be able to see for thirty miles out there, and I don’t see a thing. If we head out now, we can go until dark, then drop anchor around one of these islands out here.” He indicated a small group of islands an inch or so away from their current location on the map. “I’m seeing a candle-lit dinner at sea in our future. If you’re lucky, maybe we’ll even rock the boat afterwards.” He winked at her.
“If I’m lucky?” she laughed. Looking up at the sky one more time, she said, “You’re right. I assume the boat is ready to go?”
“Yep. It was the air filter. It was filthy, but now it’s squeaky clean and ready for action.”
“Well, wait are we waiting for?”
After getting everything in order, Eric fired up the engine and eased from the slip. As they drove toward the open sea, he took one last look at QUEST II and the bearded man standing on the deck who was having a very animated conversation on his phone.
As Eric turned back to the sea, Abby wrapped an arm around him from the side, and he put an arm around her shoulder to pull her close.
The man on QUEST II hung up the phone and turned to watch Eric ease forward on the throttle and head for open water. The man threw his phone onto his seat, ran his hands through his bushy hair, and shouted, “Damn it!”
10
THEY HAD MOTORED toward their destination for six hours when they saw a cluster of small islands in the twilight. They picked a calm spot in the water between two of them to drop anchor for the night. Abby was putting the finishing touches on dinner and brought it up to eat on the deck while they bobbed gently in the water and watched the stars.
Looking up, Abby said, “I’m going to miss this view.” There were no large islands or cities of any kind for a hundred miles. The cloudless sky revealed so many stars, that it was hard to see just one. The sky was brilliantly lit with stars as far as the eye could see.
“Me, too,” Eric sighed. “We’ll be back, though.”
“Promise?”
Eric laughed. “Absolutely.”
“But you don’t even know me. Not really, anyway. There’s so much about me that I don’t know myself...” Her voice trailed off.
“What are you talking about ‘I don’t know you’? I know you plenty. We went through hell together and came out the other side to live another day. We’ve been living together ever since. So your memory is a little spotty – you’re still you.” He squeezed her tightly. “Whatever happened, happened. It’s in the past. I know exactly who you are, and I love who you are today, and that includes whatever surprises come with that.”
They retired to the cabin early so they could get an early start in the morning, but they didn’t do any sleeping for a while.
It was not a very large boat, and so it was not a very large cabin. Coming down the steep steps from the deck of the boat, there was a small door immediately on the right that opened into the tiny bathroom. On the left were a stovetop and a few cabinets. A small, two-person table also stood on the left, with the bed at the very front of the boat. Abby and Eric lay in the bed breathing heavy and exhausted, when the wind began to pick up.
Abby felt the boat begin to rock a little more as she listened to the wind while it whistled up above through the open cabin door. She was just starting to drift off when a particularly strong gust slammed the door shut at the top of the stairs.
Abby sat up half dressed. “What was that?”
Eric didn’t stir.
She crawled out of bed and, guided by the very weak nightlight, made her way to the stairs. Climbing to the top and opening the door, she stepped onto the deck and looked around. The wind whipped her hair around, and the force made her wary enough to grab onto a safety bar by the steering wheel. The boat rocked heavily despite the relatively calm waters they had chosen several hours ago.
The storm is here.
They had picked a good spot to drop anchor, but in retrospect, they should have docked somewhere. Eric, ever the romantic, thought that a candle-lit dinner at sea would be a wonderful way to spend the night. It was. However, as the boat began to pitch more steeply with each passing swell, Abby began to get a knot in her stomach that could ruin any romantic evening.
She knew from experience that this area was prone to exceptionally harsh and fast-moving storms, and when she looked up, she knew it was bad. The sky was completely black. There was not a star to be seen; not even a sliver of moonlight. They had better get moving, and fast. She knew they would not be able to navigate through a port that they were unfamiliar with, but if they could get close to land or find a cove or harbor, they would be better off than sitting out here in the open water.
Abby went to run down the stairs as a huge swell lifted the boat and pitched it hard to the right, and as it rode the side of a wave, it sent Abby airborne, past the last few stairs and crashing to the floor.
“Eric! Wake up!”
He sat up, groggy and unable to make out anything in the faint light. “What?”
�
��We’ve got to get moving. The storm is here!”
As if on cue, the cabin lit up as a flash of lightning pierced the sky above. Seconds later, the hard crash of thunder told them it wasn’t far away.
Eric quickly jumped out of bed as Abby got back to her feet. Just then, another swell pitched them hard to the right again, and they both slammed into the wall. Then, just as quickly, it pitched to the left and they hit the other side of the boat. They both realized that the waves were hitting them from the side, so they were going sideways down the backside of the waves.
This had Eric slightly panicked, “We’ve got to be going into the swell, not sideways like that. If we get hit with one much bigger, we’ll flip.”
He ran up the stairs with Abby following behind. The rain had started and was being driven sideways by the high wind. It stung Eric’s bare skin as it pelted his back, and he immediately regretted not tossing on a shirt. He grabbed the keys from the storage compartment. He had to get the boat moving soon before a strong enough wave hit them from the side and capsized them.
There were several keys on the ring that was attached to a large, fist-sized piece of plastic, making it awkward to handle. He fumbled with the keys, trying to find the one for the engine. With the wind whipping around him and driving the rain into his eyes, it was no easy task.
Suddenly, the boat pitched hard again. Abby fell to the deck and Eric tripped over her. Arms flailing out, he searched for anything to grab onto as he tumbled toward the edge of the boat. He fell to the deck and slammed into the short wall at the edge of the boat. His right hand smashed onto the rail, sending the keys flying over board.
“Dammit!”
Abby managed to get a hand hold on one of the safety bars and into a standing position as the boat leveled off before pitching to the right as they slid down the back of the swell. She heard Eric scream as he hit the deck, and watched as he whipped his head around, looking in all directions in the water. His back was to her, but it was clear that he was searching over the rail for something. Seeing his empty hands gripping the railing, she realized the worst.
The keys went overboard!
Another bolt of lightning tore through the sky above, and as she heard the hard crash of thunder, she saw the bright orange floater that the keys were attached to barely ten feet from the boat. Abby didn’t bother to take a second to process the thought. Now or never, she thought, as she ran uphill on the pitched deck and jumped as far from the boat as possible into the black ocean.
Eric hadn’t seen her until she was airborne. It was futile, but he screamed as she hit the water, “Abby! No!”
Abby rubbed the water from her eyes and searched frantically for the keys. She figured she must have landed close to them.
“Abby, get back here! You’re going to kill yourself!”
She ignored him. It took all of her concentration to keep her bearings and search the water as the wind-driven rain pelted down around her.
“Abby! Come on!”
She screamed back at him, “Turn on the light!”
“What?”
“Turn on the light! I can’t see a thing!”
Eric ran over to the steering wheel, pointed the floodlight toward Abby, and hit the switch. Nothing. He flipped the switch on and off several more times. Still nothing.
He ran back to the rail. “Get back here!”
“Just turn on the fucking light!”
“I can’t turn on the light without the keys!” Eric was screaming over the sounds of the storm, “Follow my voice and swim back here before you drown!”
She wasn’t going back. Not without the keys. I’m already in the water. They’ve got to be here somewhere. She feared that if she didn’t find the keys, they would both drown. She swam further from the boat.
“You’re going the wrong way!” Eric was yelling, unsure if she could hear him above the noise of the wind and rain pounding the ocean. “Abby, you’re going the wrong way! Damn it!” He looked around for a life jacket or anything else that might float. There was nothing on the deck.
He tore open a small door to a storage compartment by the steering wheel and found a life preserver. He screamed out to the sea, “Grab onto this!” She was at least twenty feet from the boat now, and he wasn’t sure he could throw the light life jacket that far.
He was pitching into the wind, and hurtled the life jacket toward Abby with everything he had. The wind took it, and blew it straight back at him and over his head, carrying it at least twenty feet in the wrong direction on the other side of the boat. He cursed and looked back over the railing, straining his eyes to find Abby as he heard her shouting.
“I’ve got it!”
“OK, swim back! Follow my voice!”
She slid the elastic lanyard attached to the floating key ring over her wrist as she began paddling back, following Eric’s voice.
He shouted, “Good! I see you!”
She swam hard, but suddenly couldn’t see or hear him anymore. She called out, “Eric?”
As another bolt of lightning lit up the sky Abby saw only a wall of water in front of her. She was on one side of the wave; the boat was on the other. She swam in the direction it should be and finally saw it as she crested the top.
“Abby!”
The water calmed a bit between the swells, and she took advantage of that, swimming as hard as she could toward Eric and the boat, quickly closing the distance now that she knew where she was.
He reached over the edge, holding fast to the railing, as Abby reached up, but the rocking and bouncing kept them from connecting. As the boat suddenly bobbed toward her and bumped her hand, Abby was struck with the very real fear that if the boat suddenly lurched in her direction, it would hit her and she would be in big trouble.
“Lower the ladder in back,” she called up to him. “I’ll climb up there!”
Without hesitation, Eric ran to the back of the boat and unlatched the small ladder hinged to hang over a small wooden ledge on the back of the boat next to the dormant propeller. Abby came toward the back of the boat as the ladder splashed into the water.
“Come on,” Eric called, reaching out toward her with one hand, holding onto the rail with the other.
Abby reached out, and while she couldn’t grasp his hand, she managed to get a hold on the bottom rung of the ladder, which was under the water. She quickly grabbed onto the top rung with her other hand and held on as the bobbing boat seemed intent on shaking her off. She called out, “I got it!”
Eric grabbed her hand to help her up. As she got her feet situated to climb, the boat bobbed and lunged, and her feet slipped. Eric lost his grip on her wet hand, and she went straight down into the water.
Abby popped back to the surface almost instantly. “I’m OK!”
“Give me your hand!”
She reached out to grasp his hand just inches over the water as he leaned precariously over the edge to get her. Just then, the boat bobbed and lunged again, and the small wooden ledge on the back of the platform came crashing down on Abby’s head and she disappeared under the water.
“Abby! Abby!” Eric stood searching for her for a few moments before finally spotting her. She surfaced about ten feet from the back of the boat. She was face up and not moving. Without a second thought, he dove off the back of the boat and swam to her in seconds. He couldn’t tell if she was breathing, but he didn’t have time to mess around.
Wrapping his left arm through her shoulders and over her chest, he paddled back to the boat and grabbed onto the top rung of the ladder with his free hand. Adrenaline pumping hard through his veins, he lifted Abby out of the water with one arm and set her on the wooden ledge before quickly scrambling out himself and hoisting her back over the railing to set her down on the deck.
He leaned down to her face and felt her breath on his cheek. Thank God she’s breathing, he thought as he let out a sigh. As he went to kiss her, the boat lurched hard again, snapping him back to reality and their predicament. He slid the keys of
f her wrist, found the one for the engine, and fired it up.
Eric jerked the wheel to the left and powered up the throttle, sending them up and over the next swell. As they came down the back side, he got a sinking feeling in his stomach, like he was on a roller coaster, but it was better than taking the waves from the side and risk being capsized.
He looked back at Abby, who lay still on the deck behind him. There was nothing he could do at the moment. She’s just got a bump on her head; she’ll be OK, he told himself. He spent the next hour riding waves, up, then down, up, then down. He couldn’t see anything in front of him, and had no idea where he was anymore in relation to the islands. He just hoped he wasn’t going to hit anything.
Eventually the storm took its leave as quickly as it had come. Over the course of an hour, the wind and rain died down. Clouds were starting to clear, and there was a faint glow in the distance that indicated dawn was coming. He still couldn’t see much of anything, but once the water settled from enormous swells to ordinary waves, he set the engine to neutral and crouched next to Abby.
“Hey,” he said, nudging her. “You in there?” He watched her. “You scared me half to death. You’re crazy, do you know that?” He bent down and kissed her. Her eyes fluttered open as she smiled.
It was a few seconds before she realized that she was lying on the deck. She was soaked, but the warm engine was rumbling just beneath her, and she was alive. “What happened?”
Eric laughed. “You lost your damned mind and nearly lost your damned life, that’s what happened.”
She managed a chuckle.
“We’re even now,” he said.
She smiled and sat up, “Where are we?”
“I’m not sure.” He stood and helped her get to a seat at the back of the boat before looking around. In the faint light he spotted an island. “Not sure what that is, but I think we’re going to find out. Why don’t you go put on something dry while I point us in that direction?” He helped her to her feet and gave her a kiss before she walked down the stairs into the cabin.
Escape, the Complete Trilogy Page 30
